


Band-aids don't fix bullet holes

by Drhair76



Series: the night is dark but the moon is bright [16]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Allison Hargreeves is a good sister, But that might be asking too much of him, Diego Hargreeves is Bad at Feelings, Gen, Good Brother Diego Hargreeves, He also needs to not get shot, Hurt/Comfort, Number Five | The Boy Has Issues, Number Five | The Boy Needs A Hug, Protective Diego Hargreeves, grace hargreeves is the best mom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-04
Updated: 2019-04-04
Packaged: 2019-11-20 19:31:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,495
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18131069
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Drhair76/pseuds/Drhair76
Summary: Five's eyelids fluttered. "So close...you have to keep-" he paused to huff a weak breath. "-keep going."Allison wanted to scream. She would've strangled her brother if he wasn't already bleeding to death in front of her.The apocalypse meant absolutely nothing if he just died in front of her.or, the one where Five is an idiot, Diego is bad at emotions and Allison is a saint.





	Band-aids don't fix bullet holes

**Author's Note:**

> okay so funny story about this,,,,,I was writing this and I stopped. when i came back to it and read it over i was like 'wow. that's terrible.' but instead of actually starting over, I just kept writing. 
> 
> Tldr: it's long and all over the place <3

 Seeing Five collapse to the floor was one of the most horrifying moments Allison's ever experienced.

They were just peeking around Leonard- _Harold's_  belongings when she heard a thump from behind her. She turned and saw Five laying on the ground, a pained wrinkle in his forehead and a thin sheen of sweat high lighting his pale face. 

"Wha-Five." She immediately crouched down to her knees next to him. Her eyes immediately zeroed in on the deep red color slowly growing on his sweater. "Oh my-Blood!"

"What the hell?" 

Diego followed her lead, his eyes raking over his brother, looking for any major injuries. Allison watched as Five's hand ghosted over his side and she wasted no time to pull up his sweater. 

He winced and Allison's apology died in her throat when she saw the blood on his stomach. 

"Oh my god." She gasped and Diego inhaled sharply. 

"Five, why didn't you tell us about this?" He demanded. 

Five's eyelids fluttered. "So close...you have to keep-" he paused to huff a weak breath. "-keep going."

Allison wanted to scream. She would've strangled her brother if he wasn't already bleeding to death in front of her. 

The apocalypse meant absolutely  _nothing_  if he just died in front of her.

"Don't-Five, stay awake." 

Diego snapped a finger in front of his face. " _Five_." 

"We have to get him help." Allison said, she pulled the sweater down back over the wound. "I'm so sorry Five." 

She applied pressure to the wound and winced when Five moaned miserably. 

"We can't exactly call anyone, we're still technically trespassing right now." Diego argued, his hands hovering over Five's limp form awkwardly. He grit his teeth as he watched his younger brother pant heavily. 

"We can't just leave him!" She snapped back, tightening her hold on his hand protectively. 

"You think I don't know that?" Diego growled and when Allison just turned back to Five, he huffed a breath. "Look, we'll just take him back to the academy. Mom-" 

Allison glanced up at him. Diego swallowed thickly and hurried to continue. "Pogo should be there, but we have to hurry." 

Allison nodded and moved so Diego could scoop Five into his arms. He hefted him up and winced when he felt how light the kid was. Five's head lolled and a broken cry slipped from his lips. 

Diego's heart hurt at the sound and he brushed a gentle hand through Five's hair. 

"It's okay," Diego whispered. "I've got you." 

It was at times like this that Diego forgot that Five was older than him, especially when he looked like a thirteen year old kid. 

Allison led the way out and as soon as they opened the door to the academy she was yelling for help. 

Diego laid Five down on their couch. He didn't cry out in pain as Diego worried he would, but that wasn't entirely reassuring. He squinted at his brother, noting his pale face, shallow breathing and slight grimaces of pain. 

Diego would rather Five be crying out in pain than dead silent. 

He looked up to call for Pogo when he saw the familiar pink of mom's dress pass by in the next room. 

His heart stuttered. 

He wasn't ashamed to admit that he completely forgot about Five in favor of running around the corner to see Grace about to walk up the stairs. 

"Mom?"

She turned and not a curl was out of place, her dress was perfectly pleated and her smile was just the same as the last time he saw it. 

It was like looking at a ghost. 

Diego wondered if Klaus felt the same ice cold shock whenever he saw an  _actual_  ghost. 

"How-How are you walking around?" He stammered. She stepped off the stair and Diego didn't hesitate to reach for her wrist, turning it to see the patchwork done. 

"With one foot in front of the other silly." Diego had a weird sense of deja vu as he gently traced the stitches in her arm. "Why? How do you do it?" 

"I-" Diego wanted to say so much and he wanted to ask so much more. 

_'How are you here? What do you remember? Are you okay? Am I talking to Grace or Reginald's programming?'_

He was brought out of his swimming thoughts by Allison's call out to him. All at once Diego remembered Five's injury and he jolted. Maybe Grace could be stitched up and brought back to life but Five couldn't. 

"We need you." He took hold of Grace's other hand and pulled her over to the room. He ignored Allison's look of shock and disbelief. "Five's been hurt." 

Diego watched as their mom entered caretaker mode and quickly whisked Five away to the med room. He allowed himself a breath of relief and watched Allison do the same as she sat down heavily on the couch. 

"I can't-" She started but then stopped. 

There were no words but Diego nodded anyway. 

 

* * *

 

 Allison made a move to brush some hair out of her eyes when she saw the red that stained her hands. She stared for a second before disgust and horror welled up like a balloon in her chest. 

"I should-" She stood quickly and Diego shot her a look. "I should go and-I need to wash up." 

She hurried to the nearest bathroom and washed her hands. Allison scrubbed the skin until it hurt, but all that mattered was that her brother's blood was nowhere near her hands. 

She didn't even realize she was shaking until she went to dry them off.

She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. Her brother was in the other room hurt, in pain and so close to dying. So, so close that even Five thought he was done for. 

Allison was never that close with Five, finding his arrogance off putting, but family was family. Seeing him collapse to the floor, hearing his breath stutter in his chest, it was something Allison never wanted to experience ever again. 

And if she had anything to do with it, she'd never have to. 

 

* * *

 

Diego hated waiting around. 

 

 

 

He stood and had begun to pace, unable to just sit and do nothing while his brother could be dying in the other room and his mother, who was  _supposed_  to be dead was perfectly fine. 

His mom was back and really alive. 

He wondered how much she remembered, whether she would remember the way he hurt her.  

Just thinking about it made Diego shudder so he didn't think about it. 

Instead his brain automatically focused on the next mounting problem, which was Five being in the med room with a gun shot wound. 

Diego didn't want to think about the chances of Five's survival. He didn't want to think about the was Five's blood stained his sweater, or the way he gasped in pain, or the way his head lolled when Diego first picked him up. 

He didn't want to think about his brother's eyes losing focus and the way he went limp when Diego put him on the couch.

He didn't notice how hard he was clenching his jaw until he forced himself to unclench and it ached.

Allison walked back into the room, her face pale, but set with determination. 

"When Five wakes up, he's talking to us." She said firmly. "None of his vague, dancing around the issue thing that he does. And we're not going to let him decide whether or not we can help him. We're just going to help him."

Diego didn't see a single problem with anything Allison was saying. He was tired of his brothers going off and getting mysteriously injured-he still hadn't forgotten about Klaus' mentions of torture- and he was tired of not being able to help. 

"Oh yeah, Five's definitely got some explaining to do."

 

* * *

 

Five was burning hot. 

That was the first thing he noticed. 

The second thing he noticed was that his eyelids were heavy and his limbs felt like they were trapped in jello. 

He forced his mouth to move, to call out for Dolores. His throat was dry and he needed to get water, he needed to get up and get out of the beating sun. 

He shouldn't have fallen asleep without setting up camp, now there would be ash in his throat and burns on his face that he couldn't treat. 

He wanted so badly to just get up and move, but his eyes wouldn't open, his tongue felt like a twenty pound weight in his mouth and he felt all fuzzy. 

There was something wrong with his chest. There was something wrong with his head. There was something wrong with his eyes. 

Why weren't they opening?

He tried to weakly call for Dolores again but he couldn't hear his own voice over the sound of that vicious beeping. 

It was incessant, annoying and confusing. 

There was no beeping in the apocalypse. There was no sound except for Five's own thoughts, his breathing and the crackle of flames that always seemed to follow him. 

He groaned and suddenly there was a hand on his forehead. He flinched away from the touch, pushing his eyes open and squinting up. For just a tenth of a second, he thought the Handler found him and a bolt of fear shot through him. 

He couldn't fight her like this. Not when he was drained, clouded, in pain. She would kill him and that, in turn, would kill the whole world. 

And his family. 

He whimpered, shuffling away in fear and a soft voice called put to him. He forced his eyes open wider and saw golden blonde hair instead of platinum white and relaxed. 

"Oh, dear. You're awake." Grace hummed.

She moved her hand from Five's forehead and stepped away to grab something. Five attempted to sit up with a wince before Grace's hand was on his shoulder gently pushing him to lay back down. 

"No, no. You need to rest." She said softly, holding out a cup of ice chips. 

Five frowned but didn't protest. He laid back down and took the cup of chips from her. 

"I'll go tell Diego and Allison you're okay. They've been worried about you." 

Five watched her leave with a confused frown.

Diego and Allison were worried about him?

That left a foreign, yet warm feeling in his gut that Five hadn't felt for a long time. He couldn't imagine Diego worrying about him. Allison, maybe. She was a mother. She'd worry a lot, especially as long as he had this body with this face. 

Five felt a weird sense of guilt for making them worry, but it was...nice. 

It was nice to know that someone cared. 

Allison burst into the room a moment later, looking around frantically. Her eyes landed on him and a relieved smile brightened her face. 

"Five." She stepped over and placed a hand on his cheek. "You're okay." 

Five would've swiped her hand away except for the fact that his arms were still heavy with exhaustion. And he leaned into the contact because it was cool on his warm face, not because he enjoyed the comfort or anything. 

"Yeah." Five croaked and the hand was gone. He felt a weird loss and bit his lip to keep himself from asking for it back. 

He wanted relax and rest and allow himself some comfort, he wanted to spend time with his siblings and get a hug from Allison, one where he isn't in danger of dying. 

But he couldn't so he forced himself to focus. 

He wanted to tell Allison that she shouldn't be wasting time watching after him. She should be out there, looking for Vanya, finding Harold, keeping her safe. Five would be fine. He opened his mouth to say just that when Diego burst into the room just the same way Allison did. 

He looked frantic, his brows furrowed, his jaw clenching and unclenching. He saw Five and his worried expression smoothed instantly. 

"O-oh, good." There was a pause and Five could hear Diego taking some deep calming breaths. "You-you aren't dead."

Diego's tense frame relaxed into a a faux confident and aloof swagger so fast that Five was almost impressed. 

Allison, however, was less so. 

 "You can drop the act," She rolled her eyes, "we know you were worried about him."

Diego scoffed. "Worried? About him? No." He stepped closer and Five noticed the way Diego's hand searched for his shoulder. 

"I'm just checking to make sure that I didn't have to go out and find the son of a bitch who did this. Hey, by the way Five, why don't you tell us who did this?" 

Five sighed, closing his eyes and letting his head fall back against the pillows. "Technically, me. I was careless and made a mistake."

"Okay," Diego said. "Yeah, totally get that. I completely understand, but...who  _did_  it?"

The hand on Five's shoulder tightened and he groaned. 

All he wanted was to stop the apocalypse and keep his siblings safe, why couldn't they stay out of his way long enough for him to actually do that? And why couldn't he heal fast enough so he could stay on task?

"You can't kill her. She's already dead."

"So they're a she?" 

Five opened his eyes to see Diego looking at him expectantly. He turned to Allison for some form of backup, but the same exact look was being mirrored back at him. 

"What part of  _dead_  don't you get?" Five grumbled. 

"Yeah, yeah. I hear you, but what if she's not?" Five made an indignant sound and Allison cut in. 

"We arent doubting your skills Five, we know you're perfectly capable of handling yourself." She soothed, choosing to ignore Diego's pointed whisper of _'Except for when you get shot and don't tell us-'_. "We're just worried about you and we want to help."

Five didn't even want to entertain the possibility of the Handler surviving. He didn't want to think about all his hard work going to waste. He  _couldn't_  think about it. 

Five narrowed his eyes at his sister, noting her pleasing eyes and the way she bit down harshly on her bottom lip. He turned his gaze on his brother, catching the subtle shake of his fingers and his determined gaze. 

What good would Diego and Allison do for him anyway? Allison had powers she was too scared to use and Diego could throw knives. 

Against Hazel, against Cha-Cha, against the apocalypse, they were nothing. 

He reminded himself that they cared about him. 

He reminded himself that it was Diego's hand on his shoulder and Allison's fingers curled around his wrist. It was Diego who carried him back and Allison who made sure he got help. 

They were  _here_  and they  _stayed_  and that meant  _everything_.

"Fine. I'll tell you." He sighed, Allison's eyelids fluttered in relief and Diego's grip loosened. "But first, get me some coffee.

**Author's Note:**

> NE way, I made a tua blog on tumblr, so if yall want to follow me on there and listen to me rant about my writing then feel free! 
> 
> its vanyas-soulmate-76


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